We are in Phnom Penh and trying to make the most of this trip, going to bookstores, dentists, and trying to find affordable accommodation that isn't disgusting.
Monument Books 📚
Usually when we come to Phnom Penh we go to IBC and PBC, both affordable bookstores that don't necessarily respect international copyright laws. That's fine by me, I love those stores, but they carry books for the Cambodian reader, and those aren't necessarily titles that native English speakers would always be interested in.
On this trip I decided to shake things up and take the ladies to Monument Books, a place a little on the expensive side, but all books are original copies from all around the world, mostly in English, but also various European languages too. Referring back to the thumbnail, you'll notice Srey-Yuu found herself in the Young Adult section of the bookstore, and she wasn't impressed that I wanted to take a photo of her below the sign.
We came here with an hour to kill before Pov's dreaded dentist appointment, so we explored the place properly, and did our best to make sure we didn't leave without buying anything. Monkey-B picked up "Matilda" by Roald Dahl, and Srey-Yuu grabbed a copy of "The Hunger Games," a book whose movie is probably more well-known.
The wife and I didn't get anything for ourselves, she's not much of a reader and I get joy from seeing my daughters get some books they will read. The saddest part was to see the Harry Potter stand completely empty, but that's okay because we have a small sea freight package with Harry Potter books arriving from the USA sometime in January of next year.
This place also sells Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, and a few other brand name toys from the USA and Europe. When I saw the Matchbox cars, I had to check the price, and to my surprise they were each only $2.50, so we decided to buy one for our neighbor's boy, the legendary and naughty Ah Boom. With a couple books and a very small car, we got in our very large tuk-tuk and headed to the dentist.
Braces For Pov 🦷
The dentist's office is called LaBelle, but I couldn't find any French connection other than a sticker of an extremely satisfied white couple smiling their best smiles on the left side of the entrance doors, and also another ecstatic white family on the right side. Surely if these stock photo not-customers are okay with LaBelle dentistry, the place is good enough for my family and I 🤷♂.
It took about 2 hours for Pov to get her metal mouth, and Monkey-B, Srey-Yuu, and I did our best to stay busy in the tuk-tuk. They watched a movie and I did some ASEAN Hive work from my iPad, and we were all very anxious to see what Pov's mouth was going to look like.
When she returned to the tuk-tuk she was very shy of her new brace face, and I can't blame her to be honest. However, she's suffered from lockjaw for many years, perhaps from a misaligned bite due to a milk tooth that was never removed and caused tooth crowding. These braces will be a part of her life for perhaps the next two years, and they aren't cheap, so I really hope they fix her problem. Luckily there was no deposit and we only have to pay $68 a month for a very long time 😆.
JC Vegetarian Restaurant 🍲
One restaurant the girls like is JC Vegetarian Restaurant, a Chinese-ish styled hotpot place with lots of mock meat dishes. I like the place well enough to eat there, but I would never suggest we go there without the girls mentioning it first. All in all though, the hotpot is about the experience more than anything, and of course I have no pictures of the meal because I always forget.
Guesthouse Fail 👎
Ever since our last trip here many moons ago, the hotel I have been patronizing for 10+ years disrespected us by moving our tuk-tuk without permission and tipping over a new washing machine that was inside. They failed to notify us or even upright the machine, so I cussed them out and now we boycott the place. We haven't had much luck finding a new affordable and quality hotel/guesthouse to patronize yet, but I am confident it will come.
The place we took a gamble on was $20, far more than we are used to spending, but now it's getting harder and harder to find a $12 to $15 room that isn't a hygiene nightmare. We failed on this night, didn't even get hot water for the price, but I have found that even $50 a night hotel rooms in Cambodia have bathroom drains clogged with hair, aircon filters that have never been cleaned, and all the other things that come with a lack of pride in running a hotel business.
Humor Will Save Us 🤣
When morale is down due to a sub-standard hotel room with unwashed sheets full of hair from the previous guest, the only thing one can do is distract with humor, so I asked Monkey-B to kiss her sister, and instantly Hive content was born.
Srey-Yuu loves being loved, as you can see in these photos. She offers little resistance, and even asked her sister to hug longer and stronger. Okay, I might've lied a little, but there is a part of me that knows she actually likes this, but the inner teenager must keep up defenses.
Well, that pretty much sums up the events of the day. Traffic is so hectic, and every single action takes extra time here because of urban complexities that we don't have in the mountains where time seems to stand still. We still have plenty of things left to do, so stay tuned for more because this roadtrip is far from over.
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Return from Srey-Yuu Is A Young Adult 👵 My Wife Got A New Mouth 👄 & Monkey-B Is A Clown 🤡 Phnom Penh, Cambodia 🌆 to Justin Parke's Web3 Blog
